Knife module for cutting roll stock in automated equipment

ABSTRACT

A knife assembly which may be used in reproduction machines including rotary and stationary blades cooperating with a pair of ring gauges and a tapered support means to lift off the stationary blade to accurately cut a section of sensitized material from a web. The first gauging ring is of the same diameter as the rotary blade and the second gauging ring is less than the rotary blade diameter with both gauges being attached to the opposite ends of the rotary blade. Contact between the rotary blade and the cutting edge of the stationary blade is maintained via a tension spring linkage which exerts a force sufficient to assure positive contact between the rotary and stationary blades.

United States Patent 1 Young Dec. 24, 1974 41 KNIFE MODULE FOR CUTTING ROLL STOCK 1N AUTOMATED EQUIPMENT Related US. Application Data [63] Continuation-impart of Ser. No. 161,713, July 12,

1971, abandoned.

[52] US. Cl 83/582, 83/575, 83/611 [51] Int. Cl B23d 17/00 [58] Field of Search 83/610-612,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,098,510 6/1914 Krauth 83/611 X 1,098,512 6/1914 Krauth 83/611 X 3,568,556 3/1971 Gesell etal. 83/611 X Primary ExaminerJ. M. Meister Attorney, Agent, or Firm-W. C, Kehm; Samson B.

Leavitt [5 7] ABSTRACT A knife assembly which may be used in reproduction machines including rotary and stationary blades cooperating with a pair of ring gauges and a tapered support means to lift off the stationary blade to accurately cut a section of sensitized material from a web. The first gaugingring is of the same diameter as the rotary blade and the second gauging ring is less than the r otary blade diameter with both gauges being attached to the opposite ends of the rotary blade. Contact between the rotary blade and the cutting edge of the stationary blade is maintained via a tension spring linkage which exerts a force sufficient to assure positive contact between the rotary and stationary blades.

6 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures mmmm SHEET 1 0F 2 INVENTOR.

L. Yu,/

TTORNEY g KNIFE MODULE FOR CUTTING ROLL STOCK IN AUTOMATED EQUIPMENT This invention relates to an improved knife assembly which may be used with photocopying or duplicating apparatus and, more particularly, to the feeding and subsequent handling of sensitized paper in continuous sheet as it is being severed from a web of material and is a continuation in part of my copending patent application, U.S. Ser. No. 161,713, filed July 12, 1971, entitled Knife Module For Cutting Roll Stock In Automated Equipment, now abandoned.

More specifically, the present invention relates to an apparatus for the cutting of paper or similar material from a web or a roll supply in which the knife assembly includes an arrangement which permits accurate cutting of a sheet from a web of material when the apparatus is incorporated into and is part of an overall assembly in a photocopying or duplicating machine or the like.

Whatever the process may be, it is advantageous to use sensitized material in continuous sheet form from which various lengths may be cut by the operator of the machine in accordance with the requirements dictated by the length of the original.

in the reproduction of engineering drawings which are of larger sizes and lengths, diazotype machines are particularly advantageous. These generally employ a rotating glass cylinder containing an ultra-violet light source. The sensitized sheet is conveyed further for either gaseous or moist development.

ln machines of the above type, the roll stock of sensitized material is hand fed by the operator and cut to the required size by the snapping of a steel wire at the time the original is about to be fully conveyed into the machine. Such cutting can never be made accurately to the size of the original, thus leaving large margins of unused sensitized material to pass through the machine.

Some prior art cutting assemblies, such as mentioned above, have made use of sensing devices to sense upon the leading and trailing edge of the material being copied in combination with paper cutting modules employing-knife assemblies using a rotary knife in conjunction with a stationary cutting edge. However, as will be apparent from what follows, this invention is an improvement over such prior art and may be applied to but not limited to various types of photocopying and duplicating apparatuses.

By way of background, Applicant knows of prior art devices which employ tapered blade knife arrangements for cutting. However, mere usage of such blades in of itself failed to define a structural combination required for accurate and clean cuts. For example, US.

Pat. No.' 1,098,510 discloses a paper feeding and severing mechanism for manifolding machines. The structure according to this reference employs a stationary blade, as well as a rotatable cutter blade provided with specifically sized and disposedwith respect to one another, i.e., a first gauge ring being made of the same diameter as the rotary blade and the second gauging ring is less than the rotary blade diameter with both gauging rings being attached to opposite ends of the rotary blade.

To assure for the necessary positive contact at the blade interface and in turn have resultant clean paper cuts, a small but precise step from the ground surface of rotary blade (rotary blade drum) is provided down to the ground surface of an adjacent gauging ring. The rotary blade (and drum) does not advance toward nor disengage from the fixed blade. This feature in accordance with Applicants invention allows for selfsharpening of the cutting surface.

A main object of this invention is to provide means not subject to one or more of the disadvantages attributable to the prior art.

Another main object of the invention is to provide means whereby the sensitized sheet is automatically cut to any length corresponding to an original which may be inserted into the machine for copying.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a cutting assembly suitable for use with paper webs in diazo machines and the like, making use of a new novel gauge ring assembly, permitting accurate as well as clean cutting of the copy paper from a web.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a novel knife design module'making use of a stationary blade and a rotary blade as the principal elements in the cutting assembly.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a tapered support for the rotary blade combined with a step down from the rotary blade to a gauging ring allowing for slight interference developing between the blades at an instant simultaneous with the start of contact between rotary cutting blade motion and the stationary cutting blade.

Still another object of the present invention is to pro vide a knife assembly suitable for useon a diazo machine or the like in which provision is made for allowing a rocking motion of a rotary cutting blade support at which time a gauge ring is in simultaneous contact with the stationary blade and employing a solenoid to lift off the stationary blade to produce a cut in the web material.

A further object of the present invention is to provide means for satisfactorily controlling the step fown from the rotary blade to the surface of the gauge ring together to taper off the rotary blade and provide an exact amount of interference between the stationary blade and the rotary blade thus assuring very smooth, cleanly cut paper or like material, while at the same time overcoming a sluggish response and paper hangup as has been found to be the case with prior designs,

Still another object of the present invention is to ex-' tend the life of the knife assembly by means of controlling the interference between the cutting surfaces,

namely, the stationary blade and the rotary blade together with the rocking motion during the contact interval between the blades, thus self-sharpening the blades.

A further object of the present invention is to induce sufficient movement during operation of the electric solenoid, by means of flexible mounts in the rotary solenoids thereby enhancing the cutting function.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description of the invention, pointed out in particularity in the appended claims and taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view showing all the components which comprise the knife assembly.

FIG. 2 is a sectional end view showing the paper or material path, the relationship of the two cutting blades to their supports and to each other, and means of lubrication.

FIG. 3a includes rotatable blade with step between the rotary blade and gauging ring.

FIG. 3b illustrates the taper on the rotary blade after rotating the assembly of FIG. 3a for 90 about its longitudinal axis.

The present invention makes use of a new and novel gauge ring assembly as a means for providing a precise step from a very finely ground surface of a rotary blade to the ground surface of another gauging ring.

Briefly, the present invention relates to an improved knife assembly including, a first cutting means, a sec-' ond cutting means adjacent to and operable in concert with said first cutting means, a pair of gauge means each disposed at opposite ends of said second cutting means to control the degree of contact between said first cutting means and said second cutting means, two tensioning members each positioned at opposite ends of said second cutting means adapted to urge said second cutting means to positively contact said first cutting means, and an actuating means for initiating the cutting operation by providing positive motivating force .to said second cutting means.

Another embodiment of this invention relates to an improved knife assembly including a pair of gauge members, a first gauge member mounted at one end of said rotary cutting means being of a diameter equal to the diameter of the rotary cutting means, a second gauge member mounted at the other end of said rotary cutting means being of a diameter less than said first knife blades return rotary blade 2, support 3 and the rotary solenoid 8 to their starting positions upon completion of a cut.

Rotary blade support 3 is equipped with a gauging ring 17 located adjacent to the end of rotary blade 2 and opposite solenoid 8. Said ring 17 is ground to the exact diameter as rotary blade 2 thus assuring trouble free and smooth rotation as well as a smooth paper or material cut whenthe rotary solenoid is excited. In the no cutting, or at rest, position, ring 17 is in contact with the cutting edge of stationary'blade 4 said contact is maintained by a tension spring 18.

A' second gauging ring 15 is attached to the end of rotary blade support 3 adjacent to rotary solenoid 8 and, in the no cutting position, this ring also maintains contact with the cutting edge of stationary blade 4 by means of tension spring 21 coupled to link 16 attached loosely to rotary blade support 3 and exerting aforce parallel to rotary blade 2 in the direction of stationary blade 4.

Referring to FIG. 3a, one of the more novel features of this invention relates-to the special relationship between the gauging ring 15 and the rotary blade. The ring 15 when ground to its finish dimension is ground to a lesser dimension than rotary blade 2 thereby providing a precise step S from the ground surface of rotary blade 2 down to the ground surface of gauging ring gauge means, and actuating means for initiating the cutting operation between said stationary and rotary cutting means in a manner to urge said rotary cutting means towards said stationary cutting means permitting the working surfaces of said respective cutting means to contact one another to carry out the cutting operation.

Still another embodiment of this invention includes an improved apparatus for use with a reproduction machine such as a diazo machine including a web of sensitive sheet material for reproducing copies from an original, sensing means to sense both the leading and trailing edge of the material to be copied, a stationary cutting blade, a rotary cutting blade disposed to operate in contact with said stationary cutting blade, first and second gauge rings each being disposed at opposite ends of said rotary cutting blade and two tensioning springs each positioned at opposite ends of said rotary cutting blade to positively contact said stationary cutting blade during the severance of a sheetof material from said web.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the knife assembly is provided with a material guide 1 which guides paper or other material, .fed from a roll supply, through between the rotary knife blade 2 on its support 3 and stationary knife blade 4 on its support 5 both of which are mounted between two end plates 6 and 7.

Referring to FIGS.v land 2, the rotary knife and support 4 is shown in its no cutting or, at rest, position. In

this position, gauging rings 15 and 17 are in contact with the cutting edge of stationary blade 4, contact being maintained by their respective tension springs 21 and 18." The surface upon which rotary blade 2' is mounted on support 3 is tapered over the entire length of the blade. 7 During the cutting operation, the cutting edge of rotary blade 2 contacts the cutting edge of stationary blade 4 at which time, due to the step down from rotary blade 2 to gauging ring 15, some slight interference develops between the blades almost immediately upon the start of the rotary motion and blade contact. As the rotary blade 2 traverses the length of stationary blade 4 gauging ring 17 will gradually but very slightly lift off the cutting surface of stationary blade 4 until the cut reaches approximately midpoint at which time the tension spring 18 will overcome tension spring 21 attached to link 16 at the opposite end, thus allowing a rocking motion of rotary blade support 3 during which gauging ring 17 settles back into contact with stationary blade 4 and simultaneously gauging ring 15 at the solenoid end lifts off stationary blade 4 until the counterclockwise motion and resultant cut is completed.

The step down from rotary blade 2 to the surface of gauging ring 15 together with the taper along the longitudinal axis of the rotary blade 2 surface provides the exact amount of interference between blade 2 and 4 to assure a very smooth cleanly cut paper or material while at the same time overcoming a sluggish response and hangups such as are common in other paper or material cutting apparatus of a similar nature.

An important attribute resulting in extended life of the knife assembly is concerned with the previously described interference between blades 2 and 4 together with the rocking motion during cutting of blade 2 against blade 4 provides a scissors type action which serves to self-sharpen the blades.

Still another feature confirmed by extensive testing relates to the provision of flexible mounts 13 at rotary solenoid 8. This arrangement introduces sufficient flexibility during the operation of said rotary solenoid 8 to enhance the function of cutting and contribute to a smoothly cut paper or material, as contrasted to the possibility of knife hang-up in assemblies of a similar nature but with the solenoid rigidly mounted.

Two oilers 19 provide a means to consistently lubricate the surface of gauging rings and 17.

This invention has been disclosed with respect to certain preferred embodiments, and it will be understood that modifications and variations thereof will become obvious to persons skilled in the art and are intended to be included within the spirit and purview of this application and the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An improved knife assembly including,

a stationary cutting means,

a rotary cutting means adjacent to and operable in concert with said stationary cutting means,

a pair of gauge means each disposed at opposite ends of said rotary cutting means to control the degree of contact between said stationary cutting means and said rotary cutting means, one of said gauge means having a diameter equal to the diameter of the rotary cutting means, and the other of said gauge means having a diameter less than the diameter of said rotary cutting means,

two tensioning members each positioned at opposite ends of said rotary cutting means adapted to urge said rotary cutting means to positively contact said stationary cutting means, and

an actuating means for initiating the cutting operation by providing positive motivating force to said rotary cutting means.

2. An improved knife assembly having stationary cutting means and rotary cutting means adjacent to and in operable concert with said stationary cutting means comprising:

a first gauge member mounted at one end of said rotary cutting means being of a diameter equal to said rotary cutting means,

a second gauge member mounted at the other end of said rotary cutting means being of a diameter less than such first gauge means, and

actuating means for initiating the cutting operation between such stationary and rotary cutting means in a manner to urge such rotary cutting means towards said stationary cutting means permitting the working surfaces of said respective cutting means to contact one another to carry out the cutting operation. i

3. An improved knife apparatus as claimed in claim 2 including a rotary cutting support means having a tapered surface in cooperating relation with said rotary cutting means, said rotary cutting means being of a greater diameter than said second gauge member to permit interference between said rotary cutting means and stationary cutting means as said rotary cutting means traverses the length of said stationary cutting means.

4. An improved apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein: a diametrical differential between said gauge members defines a cutting interference between the cutting surfaces of the rotary and stationary cutting blades respectively.

5. An improved apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein: solenoid means for actuating said rotary cutting blade are disposed in flexible mounts.

6. An improved apparatus as claimed in claim 5 including a stationary cutting means having a cutting surface at an acute angle with respect to the contact surface of said rotary blade while said rotary blade traverses the entire length of the stationary blade. 

1. An improved knife assembly including, a stationary cutting means, a rotary cutting means adjacent to and operable in concert with said stationary cutting means, a pair of gauge means each disposed at opposite ends of said rotary cutting means to control the degree of contact between said stationary cutting means and said rotary cutting means, one of said gauge means having a diameter equal to the diameter of the rotary cutting means, and the other of said gauge means having a diameter less than the diameter of said rotary cutting means, two tensioning members each positioned at opposite ends of said rotary cutting means adapted to urge said rotary cutting means to positively contact said stationary cutting means, and an actuating means for initiating the cutting operation by providing positive motivating force to said rotary cutting means.
 2. An improved knife assembly having stationary cutting means and rotary cutting means adjacent to and in operable concert with said stationary cutting means comprising: a first gauge member mounted at one end of said rotary cutting means being of a diameter equal to said rotary cutting means, a second gauge member mounted at the other end of said rotary cutting means being of a diameter less than such first gauge means, and actuating means for initiating the cutting operation between such stationary and rotary cutting means in a manner to urge such rotary cutting means towards said stationary cutting means permitting the working surfaces of said respective cutting means to contact one another to carry out the cutting operation.
 3. An improved knife apparatus as claimed in claim 2 including a rotary cutting support means having a tapered surface in cooperating relation with said rotary cutting means, said rotary cutting means being of a greater diameter than said second gauge member to permit interference between said rotary cutting means and stationary cutting means as said rotary cutting means traverses the length of said stationary cutting means.
 4. An improved apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein: a diametrical differential between said gauge members defines a cutting interference between the cutting surfaces of the rotary and stationary cutting blades respectively.
 5. An improved apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein: solenoid means for actuating said rotary cutting blade are disposed in flexible mounts.
 6. An improved apparatus as claimed in claim 5 including a stationary cutting means having a cutting surface at an acute angle with respect to the contact surface of said rotary blade while said rotary blade traverses the entire length of the stationary blade. 